02-21-2015, 10:32 PM
There is no doubt that if you take your CB11 to a track, you will quickly find the suspension to require an upgrade. However, this bike was not built to be taken around a race track, but to cruise around on regular roads.
Last year I took a group of friends out on an enthusiastic ride around some amazing twisty roads in the French Jura mountains. I know the roads well, and they are great fun to ride on but can be a bit iffy at times. Real world roads if you like. My friends were on bikes that normally would be considered far more competent road machines than the CB11, such as a GSXR750, a BMW R1200R, Honda Crosstourer, a CB1000R etc. Although they were all able to keep up with me most of the time, at the end of the day they were all exhausted, whereas I was ready to go another round.
During the ride, I did sometimes find the suspension to be lacking a bit while pushing hard, but I realized that I was actually going much faster than what I thought, and all this in considerable comfort and remaining very relaxed all the time. My conclusion is that the suspension on the CB11 is actually perfect, and is an integral part in making this bike so perfectly balanced for what it was designed to do. I have thought about changing to Ohlins and stuff, but have finally come to the conclusion that anything I do will just upset this balance. Better to leave it as it is, and use the bike as it was intended.
Last year I took a group of friends out on an enthusiastic ride around some amazing twisty roads in the French Jura mountains. I know the roads well, and they are great fun to ride on but can be a bit iffy at times. Real world roads if you like. My friends were on bikes that normally would be considered far more competent road machines than the CB11, such as a GSXR750, a BMW R1200R, Honda Crosstourer, a CB1000R etc. Although they were all able to keep up with me most of the time, at the end of the day they were all exhausted, whereas I was ready to go another round.
During the ride, I did sometimes find the suspension to be lacking a bit while pushing hard, but I realized that I was actually going much faster than what I thought, and all this in considerable comfort and remaining very relaxed all the time. My conclusion is that the suspension on the CB11 is actually perfect, and is an integral part in making this bike so perfectly balanced for what it was designed to do. I have thought about changing to Ohlins and stuff, but have finally come to the conclusion that anything I do will just upset this balance. Better to leave it as it is, and use the bike as it was intended.